


The Phoenix

by 00AwkwardPenguin00



Series: The Essence of Instinct [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: ???? - Freeform, All Aliens are Human, AnimalShifters!AU, Enjoy!, Gen, I think that's everything, Implied/Referenced Animal Abuse, Implied/Referenced Arena Violence, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Torture, Imprisonment, Lance (Voltron) Speaks Spanish, Mad/Evil Science, No Romance, Oh wait also the title is from the Fall Out Boy song, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, PostModernish!AU, SemiDeaged!AU, Team as Family, The Triple AU of INSANITY, This isn't exactly a happy fic but the series gets better i promise, Trigger warnings:, except that i think it might work as Shiro's personal theme song, no ships, now for the actual tags, please let me know if I missed anything, so it's also a Human!AU?, the song has almost nothing to do with the fic, told you it was insane, which is as follows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-12-26 20:18:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12066240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/00AwkwardPenguin00/pseuds/00AwkwardPenguin00
Summary: In which Ulaz is furious (and about to be sick), Shiro and Keith are suspicious, Thace is appointed Chief Babysitter (and is a boss at it), and Lance is hungry.AKA the first oneshot of a triple AU that literally nobody asked for.





	The Phoenix

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'ed by my adorable and very patient baby sister iswear_thecatdidit (from tumblr). Blame her for the ginormous end-note of translations. I hope you're happy, Kitty, I had to learn HTML coding just to make that whole thing legible.

Markus Ulaz was furious. He was also horrified, and a little nauseous, but mostly furious. The data scrolling before him on the terminal screen was a study in inhuman cruelty, but as much as Ulaz wanted to rage at Haggar, most of his fury was directed at himself. He’d been “working” in Haggar’s personal lab for over a year, compiling data from various experiments, and this was the first time he’d ever really dug into the lab’s servers. He hadn’t even had to look very hard for anything dirty— Haggar was so arrogant and confident in her husband’s ability to sweep her work under the rug that she’d barely put the minimum amount of security on what was a _massive_ amount of data on shift experimentation. Which was not only illegal, but also (according to the documentation he was skimming) highly cruel, inhumane, and unethical.

No wonder Kolivan had demanded he go into work in the middle of the night. They were lucky that Ulaz’s corporate clearance allowed 24/7 access to his workspace.

Ulaz downloaded everything he could find onto a nano-drive and then shut down the terminal. He didn’t bother wiping his tracks—in a few hours, the terminal was going to be locked up in Evidence storage, and it wasn’t like the Galras were going to be in any position to sue him for violating his Non-Disclosure Agreement.

Now, on to the big question: where on Earth was Haggar keeping her “specimens”? Ulaz activated the video camera hidden in his glasses and slowly scanned the lab, a huge, open space ringed with counters and machines, and filled with movable tables. In his eighteen-plus months of working in this room, he’d never seen a single shift enter or exit. But the data had to have come from _somewhere_ , and the few reports Ulaz had read in detail had listed the location of the experiments as “Sub-basement Alpha, Galra Technologies Headquarters, New York, NY”. Haggar’s personal lab, where Ulaz currently stood, was located on the 23rd floor of Galra Technologies Headquarters in New York City. That meant that Haggar was keeping her “specimens” somewhere in the building.

Ulaz left the lab and entered an elevator. As he suspected, there was no button labeled “Sub-basement Alpha”, so he exited the elevator and entered the lab again. There had to be a direct access to this mysterious sub-basement from this particular lab, since Haggar was an entitled little witch who preferred to keep all of her playthings within close reach. Ulaz started opening doors and investigating closets, but didn’t have any luck until he discovered a hidden door behind a painting in Haggar’s office. When Ulaz tried the door, it wasn’t even locked. Behind the door, in a closet sized room, was an elevator, with a single button.

Ulaz slipped on a pair of latex gloves, and pressed the button. Immediately the silver doors slid open, quietly thunderous in the silent office. He stepped inside, and pressed the button labeled “Alpha”.

The elevator descended rapidly and soundlessly. It stopped smoothly, and the doors opened.

The room was pitch black, and utterly silent. Ulaz groped for a light switch, but couldn’t find one, so he fumbled through his pockets for his penlight as he stepped out of the elevator.

Cheap fluorescent lights buzzed on, bathing what turned out to be a wide, hospital-like hallway in harsh white light. Blinded, Ulaz rubbed his eyes, and once they had adapted to the brightness, he took a look around and spotted the motion sensor high on the opposite wall. That explained the lack of light switches.  The walls were painted white, as was the ceiling, and the floor was cheap white linoleum. Immediately in front of Ulaz was a pair of wide double doors with a large, impressive-looking deadbolt.

 _Bingo_ , thought Ulaz, taking his lock-pick out of his pocket. He held the tool up to the deadbolt, and it picked the lock in seconds. Slipping the tool back into his pocket, Ulaz opened the door to find a room full of cages. Huge cubes of iron bars lined the periphery of the room, while smaller aluminum crates were stacked in neat columns down the middle like an old-fashioned animal pound. Every cage had at least one animal in it, and most had two or three. Hundreds of eyes blinked at Ulaz, and a chorus of snarls and hisses filled the room.

Ulaz held his arms loosely at his sides, away from his body, and spoke at a conversational volume, “My name is Markus Ulaz, and I am an FBI agent. I will not harm you, I am here to rescue you.” He repeated the two sentences over and over, until the shifts had gone quiet and were listening.

A voice from Ulaz’s four o’clock rasped out. “If you are who you say, take off the white coat.”

“Gladly,” Ulaz replied, unbuttoning the lab coat and stripping it off. He tossed it carelessly out the door, along with his tie. He turned to face the voice, and met the eyes of an older woman. She was naked and thin, her brown and gray-streaked hair stringy from being unwashed. Around her neck was a purple collar.

“What is your name, ma’am?” He asked, keeping his eyes firmly on her face. She smiled wanly.

“I was born Margaret Smith, Agent Ulaz,” she replied. “Everyone here calls me Maggie.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Maggie.” Ulaz nodded respectfully and turned back to the rest of the room. “Is anyone in need of immediate medical attention?” He asked. “Don’t be afraid to speak up, or have someone do it for you.” No one spoke, so he took out his mobile phone and checked the signal. Thanks to Zarkon Galra’s obsession with controlling every aspect of his company, Ulaz’s crappy Agency mobile had full bars. He quickly dialed his supervisory agent’s number.

_“Kolivan.”_

“John, Thace was right,” Ulaz said. “I’m standing in a bloody _secret lab_ and there’s an entire room of cages full of shifts. You need to get the Alfor Center down here now, and Forensics.”

 _“Understood, I’ll call Coran d’Altea immediately,”_ Kolivan replied. _“Is anyone in need of medical attention?”_

“No one has said so, but I suspect there will be some who will turn up,” Ulaz sighed. A thought occurred to him, and he said suddenly, “One moment, John, I’ve just thought of something.”

He turned back to Maggie, who suddenly had a red fox curled up in her arms. “Is this the only room that holds shifts?”

Maggie shrugged. “I don’t know for sure.”

“What about Voltron?” Called a voice from further in the room. Ulaz blinked, surprised that someone else had the courage to speak, while Maggie frowned.

“What is Voltron?” Ulaz asked.

“A rumor,” Maggie answered. “Supposedly it’s Haggar’s special project— a shift with more than one animal form, meant to be the ultimate soldier.”

“I saw the Champion just a few days ago!” The voice continued. “They took him down the hallway. I heard the scientists tell the handlers to go to the end of the hall and turn right, and put him in the last room on the left.”

 _“Markus? What’s going on?”_ Kolivan demanded from the mobile.

“I think there may be more shifts around here, John,” Ulaz replied. “I’m going to go look. The entrance to the lab is in Honerva Galra’s office on the 23rd floor, behind the purple abstract painting. I’m on level Alpha.”

 _“Understood, Antok is dispatching Forensics now,”_ Kolivan said. _“They should arrive in about thirty minutes.”_

“Got it,” Ulaz said, and hung up. He turned and addressed the room. “My colleagues from the FBI will be here in half an hour. They will release you from your cages, and a group from the Alfor Center will take you somewhere safe to get medical care, food, and clothing. My colleagues and I will visit you in a few days to take your statements, but until then all you need to worry about is recovering from your time here. The Alfor Center will work with the FBI to help you return to your families after your statements have been taken. Any questions?”

Silence once again, and Ulaz nodded to himself and left, propping the doors open. _Down the hall to the end and turn right_ was not the most specific of instructions, so Ulaz mentally flipped a coin and went right. When the hallway ended, he took another right, and continued walking until he came to a dead end. There was a very large metal door at his eight o’clock, with an alphanumeric keypad in place of any kind of knob or lock. Ulaz took out his lock-pick again and held it in front of the keypad. The lock-pick scanned the pad, displaying the keys pressed most often: 5, 6, 7, and 8. Putting the lock-pick away, Ulaz studied the four keys, reading the letters under each number.

5= J, K, **L**

6= M, **N** , **O**

7= P, Q, **R** , S

8= **T** , U, **V**

 **L** , **N** , **O** , **R** , **T** , **V**

**VOLTRON**

Ulaz tapped in 8658766, and the door slid open. The room beyond was dark, but in the spill of hallway light, he could make out shapes against the far wall. Low growling filled the air.

“My name is Markus Ulaz, and I am an FBI agent,” he said, once again assuming his “come in peace” posture as he slowly stepped into the room. “I will not hurt you, I’m here to rescue you.” As his eyes adjusted to the gloom, he began to make out bright yellow fur with darker yellow stripes, white fur framing a huge snarling muzzle full of sharp teeth, and eyes glinting green/gold.

 _Holy shit, that’s a bloody_ Bengal Tiger, Ulaz realized, mouth dropping open in shock. He quickly recovered himself when the tiger-shift’s growls increased in pitch, and three more pairs of eyes appeared over the huge cat’s back. The tiger-shift’s growls nearly drowned out the others, until Ulaz felt the noise vibrating in his own chest. Something blocked the light from the doorway, throwing the room into darkness once again, and Ulaz felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. Keeping his posture relaxed and open, he slowly turned in place…

…and came face to face with a _lion_.

“Oh god,” Ulaz murmured.

[-]

Shiro lifts his head as slow footsteps echo in the hall outside their cell. He’d awoken when the hall lights had flickered on, the loud _buzz_ of the fluorescents doing more to rouse him than the light itself shining under the door, but when no one came, he’d figured that it was just some junior scientist checking on something, and had rested his chin on Keith’s shoulder. He hasn’t gone back to sleep, though.

And now someone is coming towards their cell, someone who, judging by the sound of the stride, isn’t familiar with the lab complex. Shiro nudges Hunk, who awakes with a grunt and grumbles irritably until Shiro silences him with a growl. He flicks his ears at the door. _Listen_.

Hunk’s ears flick forward, then slick back as his eyes widen in fear. They can hear the intruder breathing, rhythmic and even, and Shiro nudges Hunk again before rising to his feet. His front leg trembles with the effort of supporting his weight, but he gives himself a shake and ignores it. Hunk scoots into his vacated space, curling around the cubs and fixing a glare at the door. Keith, Lance, and Pidge are still asleep, but Keith’s tail is twitching, so he’s probably going to wake up soon. Shiro limps as quietly as he can to the corner of the cell closest to the door and crouches down to wait.

The code is tapped in slowly, and the door slides open. Immediately Hunk starts growling, fur standing on end and ears slicking back. A man walks slowly into the room, hands hanging loosely at his sides. He’s tall, with thinning dark hair clipped close to his head. He doesn’t smell like a shift— no additional notes on his human scent.

“My name is Markus Ulaz, and I’m an FBI agent,” the man says, deep voice low and soothing. Shiro is not fooled. “I’m not going to hurt you, I’m here to rescue you.”

Unbidden, the memory of an old movie surfaces. **_“’I’m Luke Skywalker, I’m here to rescue you.’ ‘Aren’t you a little short for a Stormtrooper?’”_**

The man’s words had woken up the rest of the cubs, and they all glare at him over Hunk’s back, little Pidge perched precariously between Lance’s ears. All four of the cubs are growling, but the man holds his ground. Brave, that.

Shiro creeps up behind the man, and stands on all three paws. He adds his voice to the chorus, and watches in satisfaction as the man grows increasingly tense.

The man stinks of fear, and his face as he turns and sees Shiro for the first time reminds the lion-shift uncomfortably of his time as Champion. However, the human swiftly gathers his courage and speaks again.

“My name is Markus Ulaz,” he repeats. “I am a Federal Agent with the Bureau of Investigation, and I am here to rescue you. I have colleagues who will be here in about fifteen minutes who will take you somewhere safe, where you can eat, wash, and receive medical treatment if needed.”

Shiro stops growling, but keeps his fangs bared. The cubs have gone quiet as well, although Hunk still bristles in thinly disguised terror.

Pidge chirps suddenly, and Shiro reluctantly takes his gaze off of the intruder and looks at her. Her ears are poised forward, and her tail swishes lazily in the air above her back. She chirps again, and then starts purring, looking at Shiro beseechingly.

Shiro sighs, and sits down on his haunches, rolling his shoulder as he chuffs at her.

Pidge chirps again in delight, and hops down from Lance’s head. She trots over to the man, practically bouncing, her tail held straight up in the air and waving gaily. The man turns to face her, and she sits down just out of his reach (smart girl— Pidge’s shift is small and easy for a determined human to pick up) and scratches absently at the purple collar around her neck before shifting.

“Hello!” She shrills. Shiro pins his ears back, and Hunk rumbles at her. “Oh, sorry, guys,” she says, a bit more quietly. “It’s so hard to hear in this form, I always start out too loud. My name’s Katie, but my parents and brother and pride-mates call me Pidge. You said your name is Markus? And you’re a Fed-er-ul Agent? Is that like being a policeman? Dad told me that if I ever get lost I should find a policeman, but it’s been a really long time since I got lost and you’re the first policeman-type person I’ve seen, so can you help me and my pride-mates go home?”

Shiro watches with amusement as Pidge talks the man’s ears off, and blinks in surprise when Lance clambers over Hunk and bounds to Pidge’s side, shifting mid-stride.

 _“¡Hola! ¡Soy Lance! Eres realmente alto, incluso más alto que Shiro en cambio humano.”_ The boy babbles, practically vibrating in excitement as he stares up at the man. _“No hueles como un turno. Eres un humano? ¿O te limpiaron hoy? Me limpiaron ayer. Odio ser limpiada, hace que mi piel me pica y mi nariz arde, y los abrigos blancos nunca me dejan jugar en el agua.”_

As Lance continues chattering in Spanish, Keith slinks around Hunk and sits protectively beside his twin. Now bereft of cubs to shield, Hunk whimpers and squishes himself into the nearest corner, trembling. Keith catches Shiro’s eye and huffs, flashing his claws. He’ll keep an eye on the intruder.

Shiro grunts and levers himself onto his paws, his left shoulder twinging in protest. He ignores it with the ease of long practice, limping over to Hunk and settling next to the slightly smaller shift. Growling softly, he starts bathing his oldest cub’s ears, absently listening to Pidge and Lance babble and Keith’s amused huffs.

Hunk is drowsing, and Pidge and Lance are calling the FBI agent “Agent Mark”, when shouting and loud footsteps echo from down the hall. Keith is on his paws and snarling in a split second, while Lance and Pidge shift and flee to hide behind Shiro and Hunk. Pidge clambers up to burrow into Shiro’s mane, hissing furiously, while Lance wedges himself into Shiro’s side opposite from Hunk and keeps up a blood-curdling moan. Keith backs away from the man, until his lashing tail is whipping Shiro in the face. Hunk reaches out and swipes the errant limb down.

Agent Ulaz stays right where he is, as voices fill the hall behind him. Through the open doorway, Shiro can see people in dark jackets and light ones— the dark ones say “FBI”, while the light ones have some kind of paw/hand print logo on the back.

“Agent Ulaz? Is everything okay?” A voice calls. Shiro pins his ears back, and Keith lets out a fresh growl.

“Everything is fine,” Ulaz answers serenely, “but please keep your voices down. I have five feline shifts in here with rather sensitive hearing. Is Agent Kolivan available?”

“’Fraid not, sir, he’s coordinating with the Alfor Center outside.”

Ulaz hums. “Very well. By any chance did Agent Thace come with you lot?”

A different voice answers this time, deep and mellow. “I’m here, Agent Ulaz.”

“Excellent,” Ulaz says, smiling slightly. “David, would you mind joining me and my companions? I would like to introduce you.”

“All right,” Agent Thace replies hesitantly. A tall man perhaps ten years older than Shiro enters, wearing a dark “FBI” jacket over jeans and a t-shirt. Immediately Shiro catches canine-shift markers on the man’s scent, and blinks in surprise. Lance and Pidge both stiffen, and the fur on Keith’s back stands on end.

Agent Thace smiles without showing his teeth. “My name is David Thace, and I work with Agent Ulaz at the FBI,” he says. “And I’m a shift too, just like you guys.” He starts stripping off his clothes, until he is standing only in a pair of skin-tight black shorts. He takes a deep breath, and shifts into a large timber-wolf.

Shiro stands and snarls, warning the wolf-shift away from his cubs. Thace whines and shows his belly, ceding dominance to the much larger shift.

Shiro blinks, and suddenly he is back in the arena, ears pinned back against the deafening noise of the crowds, hot blood soaking his four paws and staining his tawny coat. A wolf-shift whines and shows his belly, his sides raked with marks from Shiro’s claws. One front limb and one rear limb are broken, crushed between Shiro’s jaws. The wolf-shift whimpers and cries on the ground before him, and Shiro flinches at the buzz of a tazer-prod, a signal to finish the fight.

Needle-sharp teeth sink into the sensitive cartilage of Shiro’s ear, and he returns to the present with a jerk that nearly dislodges Pidge from his mane. She bathes the wound with her tongue and mews in apology, and Shiro rumbles gratefully in response.

Thace the wolf-shift is still on the floor in front of him, but Shiro whimpers and presses his face into Hunk’s shoulder, trembling.

Keith releases a low growl, and Shiro hears him pounce. Alarmed, Shiro looks up to find that Keith has pinned Thace down on his belly and has his jaws clamped around the back of the wolf-shift’s neck. Lance hisses in alarm, but Keith quickly releases Thace and backs away. Shiro scents the air frantically, but there is no fresh blood, just the fear-scent of both Thace and Ulaz.

Keith shifts and stands tall, shoulders square under a long curtain of unwashed black hair. “Who are you?” He demands. “Why are you here? What do you want with us?”

Thace shifts, and Ulaz hands him his t-shirt. “We are from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, sort of like the police for the entire country,” Thace explains, shrugging on his shirt. “My name is David Thace, and this is Markus Ulaz. I learned that the owner of this company and his wife were doing bad things to shifts, and I asked Markus to find you guys and get you out of here to somewhere safe.”

Keith snorts. “We’re fucking shifts, nowhere’s safe,” he sneers. “Shiro got picked up in Central Park by poachers in broad fucking daylight! Hunk’s neighbor sold him out! How do we know you’re not gonna just turn around and sell us somewhere else?”

Pidge has been fidgeting in Shiro’s mane the entire time Keith has been talking, but suddenly she jumps down and bounds over to Keith before shifting.

“Keith, these guys are police officers!” She says, swatting his arm. “What Haggar is doing to us is _illegal._ It’s their job to stop her!”

Keith scowls at her, but subsides. Despite being two years younger (ten to his twelve), she’s only been in the lab with them for a year, whereas he’s been there for most of his life. As much as he hates to admit it, she has knowledge of the outside world that most of the rest of them lack. Including Shiro, who is over ten years older than her.

Keith turns back to the agents. “We’re staying together, right? The five of us?”

Thace and Ulaz glance at each other, and Shiro feel the fur on his shoulders rise as he waits for their answer. Pidge has her family, but Hunk’s family and his own are overseas, and Lance and Keith only have each other. Lance doesn’t even speak English—Keith is the only one who can understand him, due to the fact that they have essentially grown up together. And Shiro’s parents had been old when Shiro was sixteen, he can’t imagine what ten years has done to them.

“We will do our best to keep the five of you together for as long as possible,” Ulaz finally says. “We cannot promise anything, but we will try our best."

“We’ll also do our best to reunite you with your families if at all possible,” Thace adds as he pulled on his jeans.

That sells it for Shiro. Even if it ends up being a trap, he’d rather take the chance on buying his cubs their freedom than have them endure another moment of Haggar’s tender mercies.

Keith glances at Shiro, and the older shift nods and stands, shifting as he does. Thace and Ulaz gape at his human form, which Shiro knows is riddled with scars that his lion form’s fur tends to hide. He ignores their stares, rakes his hair away from his face, and pins them with his best glare, only just managing to avoid baring his teeth.

“If a single person touches any one of my cubs with the intent to do harm, I will tear both of you apart myself,” he growls. “Understand?”

Thace looks a bit pale, but Ulaz nods solemnly. “You have my word as a law enforcement agent of the United States that no intentional harm will come to your cubs at the hands of the FBI or the Alfor Center,” he declares. “May I ask for your name?”

Shiro lifts his chin. “My name is Takashi Shirogane, but I prefer to be called Shiro. The tiger is Hunk, and the cougar is Keith. Lance and Pidge already introduced themselves. We’re the Voltron Pride.”

[-]

Thace’s hands were shaking. The back of his neck was sore, and he could feel the bruises forming. The control the cougar-shift had over his strength was terrifying, considering that he was essentially a cub. He could’ve easily snapped Thace’s neck without even meaning to, and it was only his incredible self-control that had stopped him. That kind of control in a cub… Thace couldn’t bear to think of how it had been developed.

The lion-shift, Shiro, had kept himself between the younger shifts and the two FBI agents as he led the little group out of the cell, with the cougar-shift, Keith, planted just behind his right shoulder. Lance and Pidge followed them close behind, Pidge riding piggy-back on Lance and hiding her bright red face in his neck. Hunk, just as massive in human form as he was in tiger-shift, brought up the rear, his entire body trembling visibly.

A single Alfor Center rescue worker approached, a gentle smile on her face. “Hello, everyone,” she said, voice pitched low. “My name is Maya, and I’m here to take you to the Alfor Center. Can my friends give you some clothes to wear for the trip? It’s quite chilly out.”

Thace’s heart twisted in his chest as all four of the younger shifts turned hopeful gazes to Shiro, who clenched his jaw before nodding sharply. In short order, sweatpants, zip-hoodies, and canvas slip-on shoes were handed out and donned, although they didn’t have any shoes small enough to fit Pidge. She didn’t seem to care, knotting the cuffs of the sweatpants over her feet and scrambling up on Lance’s back once again. Once everyone was kitted out, the group followed Maya to a loading dock which the shifts apparently remembered, as Keith, Lance, and Shiro all growled, and Pidge and Hunk trembled.

“David?”

Thace blinked, and turned to Ulaz. The older man looked exhausted, but there was a triumphant glint in his dark eyes as he watched the Voltron Pride reluctantly board a large passenger van with the Alfor Center logo on it.

“Yes sir?” Thace answered.

“I am appointing you as their protection detail,” Ulaz announced. “The Galra’s are not in custody yet, there is no telling if they are going to try to get any of the shifts back, especially the Voltron children, or if they are going to try to eliminate them. These five were separated from the rest—they must be especially important to Haggar, and therefore to Zarkon. If they cannot get the Voltron Pride back, there is no reason not to believe that Zarkon will do whatever he can to keep them from testifying against him. We need to keep them safe.”

Thace nodded. “Understood, sir.”

“I will be over this afternoon, after I report to John and make sure the labs and bunker are processed properly,” the older agent announced. “Keep the Voltron children together, as much as you can.”

“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem, sir,” Thace replied, watching the five shifts squeeze themselves into the very back bench in the passenger van. Keith and Lance were practically sitting in each other’s laps. Pidge actually _was_ sitting in Hunk’s lap. And Shiro had placed himself between the four kids and the door of the van, his single arm wrapped tightly around the two youngest boys. He looked like a man going to war, not one just rescued from hell.

“No, I do not believe so, either,” Ulaz murmured. “Good luck, David.”

“And to you, sir.”

Thace made sure his sidearm, badge, wallet, and phone were in place, and headed down to the van. Maya was at the wheel, and a couple of rescue volunteers sat in the benches between her and the kids. He met the eyes of one of the volunteers in the seat in front of the kids, and asked, “You mind if I sit there?”

The volunteer’s eyes widened, and he and his friend scrambled to join their friends in the seat in front of them. Thace thanked them and climbed in, settling himself against the far wall and smiling gently at the five pairs of wide eyes fixed on him.

“What are you doing here?” Shiro hissed, eyes narrowing and arm tightening around Keith and Lance.

“Agent Ulaz asked me to stay with you guys,” Thace answered calmly.

“Are we in trouble?” Pidge asked.

 _“¿La bruja va a llevarnos?”_ Lance asked. Thace was glad he’d taken Spanish in high school and college, even though the question and the terrified tone it had been asked in broke his heart.

 _“Estoy aquí para asegurarme de que ella no,”_ he replied. Lance’s eyes widened and filled with tears.

 _“¿Cuál es tu nombre?”_ He whispered.

 _“David Thace._ _¿_ _Y tuyo?”_

Lance let out a ragged sob. _“Alejandro Sánchez. Mi nombre es Alejandro Sánchez._ _Pero mi familia me llama Lance.”_

Thace reached out a hand, which the boy shakily took. He waited as Lance released a sigh of relief at the gentle touch and tightened his grip (Thace could still barely feel it—the boy was weak as a kitten) before speaking. _“Tú y tu familia están a salvo ahora, Lance. Voy a protegerte._ _Te mantendré a salvo.”_

Lance burst into tears and buried his face in Shiro’s chest.

“What did you say to him?!” Keith snarled.

“The same thing I’m going to tell all of you now,” Thace replied. “You guys are safe now. I’m going to protect you, all of you. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you again.”

Suddenly, Lance dived over the seat and onto Thace’s chest, wrapping long thin arms around his neck. _“Gracias, gracias, gracias, gracias,”_ he chanted frantically. _“Muchas gracias, mi dios, gracias, gracias.”_

Thace carefully, gently hugged Lance back, and the boy sighed happily and snuggled in. Keith looked thunderous, but Shiro regarded Thace thoughtfully, before giving a short nod and tugging Keith closer.

Maya climbed into the front passenger seat of the van, glanced back, and smiled at the sight of Lance curled up in Thace’s lap.

“It’s going to take about twenty minutes to get to the Center,” she said quietly. “Agent Thace, Agent Ulaz explained that you’re to stay with the Voltron Pride at all times, and I’ve made sure to let my supervisor at the Center know.”

Thace murmured his thanks, settling more comfortably in the seat. In his lap, Lance curled up tighter with a whimper as the van’s engine rumbled to life.

The trip was a quick one—despite New York being touted as the “city that never sleeps” for over a hundred years, there really wasn’t that much traffic at four o’clock in the morning. They drove down West 70th just long enough to get a glimpse of Central Park before turning into an alley that opened into a large courtyard. The Voltron kids all went rigid, despite the bright lights illuminating the open space.

“Where are we?” Shiro demanded. He tightened his grip on Keith and eyed Thace as though attempting to calculate the best way to snatch Lance back with only one arm. Lance made the decision for him by once again scrambling over the seat and diving into Shiro’s lap.

“We’re at the clinic entrance of the Alfor Center,” Maya explained, turning off the van. “The docs are going to check you guys out, tend to anything that needs immediate tending, and then we’ll get you settled somewhere warm and cozy where you can take showers or baths, get some clean clothes, and eat as much as you want of whatever you want.”

Shiro still eyed Maya suspiciously, and Thace motioned for her and the other Alfor Center volunteers to exit the van. With them gone, all of the younger man’s distrust was focused on the FBI agent.

Thace took a deep breath. “Shiro, I know my word probably doesn’t mean much to you, but I swear that the people here only want to help you and the cubs. No one is going to hurt you guys on purpose, and I’m going to stick with you all the whole time to make absolutely sure that you’re all safe. Will you trust me?”

Shiro’s jaw clenched, and his dark gray eyes studied Thace intently. Thace gazed placidly back, until Hunk’s trembly voice broke the standoff.

“Shiro, he hasn’t hurt us yet… not even after Keith pinned him…” The teenager trailed off and quailed as both men turned to look at him.

 _“Shiro, hambre,”_ Lance murmured.

“I’m hungry too, Shiro,” Pidge said. “And Hunk’s right. If Agent Dave hasn’t hurt us yet, I don’t think he’s going to. Lance was snuggling him the whole drive here, and he didn’t do anything to him. I think you’re being silly.”

Shiro sighed. “Fine. Let’s go.” He scowled at Thace, but the effect was a bit muted by the naked exhaustion in his dark eyes. “You go first.”

“As you wish,” Thace shrugged, and hefted himself out of the seat. He exited the van, waiting a few feet away to avoid crowding the kids as they came out.

Shiro exited first, slowly and carefully, keeping his left arm forward to shield the stump of his right. Keith followed directly behind, guarding the eldest’s weak side. Hunk came out next, visibly trembling, and Lance brought up the rear, with Pidge on his back. Thace could immediately see the strategy in the arrangement, and was quite impressed.

Maya approached them, stopping a short distance away with a smile. “Are you guys ready to come in?”

The younger kids all glanced at Shiro, who lifted his chin defiantly. “We’re ready.”

**Author's Note:**

>  _¡Hola! ¡Soy Lance! Eres realmente alto, incluso más alto que Shiro en cambio humano._ Hello! I'm Lance! You're really tall, even taller than Shiro in human shift.
> 
>  _No hueles como un turno. Eres un humano? ¿O te limpiaron hoy? Me limpiaron ayer. Odio ser limpiada, hace que mi piel me pica y mi nariz arde, y los abrigos blancos nunca me dejan jugar en el agua._ You do not smell like a shift. You are a human? Or were you cleaned today? I was cleaned yesterday. I hate being cleaned, it makes my skin itchy and my nose burns, and the white coats never let me play in the water.
> 
>  _¿La bruja va a llevarnos?_ Is the witch going to get us?
> 
>  _Estoy aquí para asegurarme de que ella no._ I'm here to make sure she doesn't.
> 
>  _¿Cuál es tu nombre?_ What is your name?
> 
>  _David Thace. ¿Y tuyo?_ David Thace. And yours?
> 
>  _Alejandro Sánchez. Mi nombre es Alejandro Sánchez. Pero mi familia me llama Lance._ Alejandro Sánchez. My name is Alejandro Sánchez. But my family calls me Lance.
> 
>  _Tú y tu familia están a salvo ahora, Lance. Voy a protegerte. Te mantendré a salvo._ You and your family are safe now, Lance. I'm going to protect you. I'll keep you safe.
> 
>  _Shiro, hambre._ Shiro, hungry.


End file.
